Mountain Gorilla Population Rebounds in Uganda

The population of mountain gorillas in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable
National Park—one of only two place in the world where the rare
gorillas exist—has increased by 6 percent since 2002, according to
several groups that conducted a recent census.

“This is great news for all of the organizations that have worked to
protect Bwindi and its gorilla population,” said Alastair McNeilage,
director of the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation in Bwindi.
“There are very few cases in this world where a small population of
endangered primates is actually increasing.”

There are now 340 individual mountain gorillas
in the park, up from 320 in 2002. The numbers of this critically
endangered group have been declining precipitously because their
habitat is being destroyed and also due to poaching and their lack of
resistance to human diseases.

Between April and June of 2006,
researchers set out into the park to gauge how many gorillas there were
by counting trails and the nests gorillas construct each night.

Genetic analyses from fecal specimens were also used to help identify
and distinguish individuals and reduce the risk of double-counting.

The researchers also considered the impact of humans
on the population and found that the gorillas were not using the
eastern side of the park, possibly because of human disturbances.

Mountain gorillas also inhabit the Virunga Volcanoes
on the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A 2003 census of these gorillas counted 380 individuals.

Live Science Staff

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